United States — United States Department of Commerce & SK Hynix

United States — United States Department of Commerce: The United States — United States Department of Commerce is the agency Apple Inc. initially approached to seek an exemption for purchasing chips from Yangtze Memory Technologies. This department is responsible for enforcing trade restrictions and managing the Entity List, which could impose severe licensing requirements on transactions with blacklisted companies.

SK Hynix: SK Hynix is one of the three major non-Chinese memory chip suppliers Apple Inc. currently relies on. The event highlights the consolidation of the memory chip industry outside of China and the potential impact on SK Hynix if Apple Inc. is allowed to diversify its supply chain to include Chinese firms.

United States — United States Department of Commerce: The United States — United States Department of Commerce reported a slowdown in retail sales in April, with higher gas prices fueled by the Iran war meaning less money for nonessential goods.

SK Hynix: SK Hynix shares fell, tracking losses in tech shares overnight on Wall Street amid global market uncertainty.

United States — United States Department of Commerce: The United States — United States Department of Commerce granted the annual export licenses to TSMC, Samsung Electronics, and SK Hynix, enabling their continued operations in China.

United States — United States Department of Commerce: The United States — United States Department of Commerce is responsible for issuing the export licenses and was not immediately available for comment.